Finding my Roots

Something that many of you might not know is that I’m 1/8th Swiss (my maiden name is Meier), which is something that I might drop in a conversation here in Switzerland if I think it will be useful - like renting an apartment, or during the Swiss National Fête.  I might even bring it up during the Swiss Cheese Awards that we’ll be attending later this month in Bellinzona (in Tincino, the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland), but that will be in another blog.

Anyway, I’m getting away from my story.  My parents were just here visiting and we went to Schaffhausen (in northern Switzerland) to do some family genealogy research to find more information about my father’s grandfather, Solomon Meier. He was born in Rudlingan in 1843, and left for the US when he was 29.  He settled in northern Ohio (where I was born and lived until I was 12), married a German woman (from Mecklenburg Germany) and had 8 children.  When he came to the US, he  bought land and farmed in the Toledo area.

My parents - Les and Mary Meier

One of my dad’s cousins had been to Rudlingan to do some research, and wrote that it was assumed that Solomon left because of the possibility of having to go to war.  However, our research found that there was no war at the time, but Switzerland was a poor country then, and there were periods where the harvests were meager and the rural farmers suffered. Since the land was passed from parents to children, the plots became too small to support many families. We had always thought that my great-grandfather was a farmer, but we found out that his father and his brother were zimmermen (carpenters), so most likely the older brother, Johannes, carried on the family business, and Solomon took his chances in the new world.  He hopped on the Nemisis in April of 1872, and arrived in New York about a month later.

When I called Rudlingan's town hall to ask if we could see the old birth and marriage records, I was told that all the records were in Schaffhausen in two different government offices (depending on the date – pre or post 1875).  I contacted the archivist for the older records, and he was extremely friendly, and offered to open the office for us if we came on a Monday, even though they were normally closed.  He “suggested” that we write to the other office to ask if we could see the newer records as well, which I did.  The response that I got to my request to come was simple, “No you can not, we do not allow reviewing records for family research, we are too busy, if you want to come for a copy you can come on Tuesday morning.”  So I was left with, no you cannot, then… come on Tuesday morning – hmm?

We arrived on a Tuesday and were greeted with open arms by Martin at the first Schaffhausen office.  The archive room was over a hundred years old, with a 12-inch thick ornately decorated door.  Martin had the Rudlingan books out for us, and had already found our great-great grandfather’s name, with his family listed (there was Solomon, spelled Solomo).  He explained that at the time the churches kept the records, and many times the names were written phonetically and could vary depending on who did the recording.

 Door to the archive room

 Decorations above the door

 Stained glass in the archive room

Solomon's birth record

 The beautiful 150-year old books with the names written in ornate calligraphy were spellbinding – books so old and fragile that they were put on special pedestals to review.  There were many Meiers and even more first names like Jacob, Anna Barbara, and Johannes (all of Solomon’s brothers and sisters). We were trying to find the line of Solomon’s older brother who stayed in Switzerland, to see if we could find any living relatives.  Just as we were about to leave, we found the reference to the newer book with the list of his 9 children. We left with a bookmark and an offer to Martin to come to visit us in the US (he has never been to the US and has family in Palo Alto).

I tried to convince my father that we shouldn’t go to the other office, in fear of Rose Marie, who said that “we couldn’t get records/come on Tuesday morning”, because now it was Tuesday afternoon.  Even Martin knew of her and her particular personality.  But my dad wanted to find some living relatives, and I was curious myself, so we found ourselves at the window of the other office asking for Rose Marie.  The secretary raised an eyebrow when I asked for her (i.e. are you sure you want to do this?), but she dutifully went to get her.  Rose Marie appeared before me with a frown on her face and said, “I told you that we don’t do this”.  I replied with a smile, “You said we could come for copies, and we would like a copy from this page of this book."

Meanwhile, my parents were behind me smiling at her, and they see her pointing to her watch, telling me that she doesn’t have time, that she has a call to take.  I said that it was not in a rush, I live in Lausanne, and could give her our address to send the copy.  I saw a slight softening of her features.  She went to her call, came back with the book to the page that we wanted, and said that it would cost 50 CHF ($50) for the main copy and 10F for each of the children (Johannes would have to have 9 children), and that for some reason, they couldn't photocopy it,  it would be a re-written transcript of the page. I said that we would discuss it and I would let her know.  Meanwhile, my parents are still behind me smiling away, and as I was packing up and told her that Schaffhausen was a beautiful area, and voila, the sun came out and she started to smile.  We cracked the Rose Marie code!

Anyway, Martin says that all the records are being put online by the first of the year, so we’re going to wait. When we went to Rudlingan it was so wonderful to see my parents’ reaction to the beautiful village on the Rhine river, with vineyards going from the hill right to water’s edge. It was magical to imagine which house was Solomon’s and what circumstances would make him leave such a gorgeous place.

Odermatt Bed and Breakfast in Eglisau (next to Rudlingan) on the Rhine River